Panel 5

Panel 5 – How Do We Repair the Damage?

In Panel 5, How Do We Repair the Damage, you’ll learn how humans can help repair forest damage.

What’s Being Done?

To reduce the threast of wildfire and restore forest health, forst managers cut and remove trees and perform controlled burns. Removing a portion of the forest reduces plant competition for light, water, and nutrients, which allows the forest to grow healthier.

Which Trees Go?

Trees that are diseased, damaged, or unhealthy are cut and removed in order to improve forest health. Different areas of the forest require different methods, or treatments, for how the trees are removed. This site was treated in 2010.

Fighting Fire with Fire

Land managers often use fire as a tool to restore forest health. Known as controlled burns, these fires are conducted under specific conditions to minimize the risk of wildfire. Controlled burns eliminate unwanted forest debris and reintroduce fire in its natural role.

Thinning

Tree removal, or thinning, is a treatment used to improve forest health.

Broadcast Burns

After forests have been opened up by tree removal, broadcast burns are ignited to reduce the accumulation of pine needles, twigs, and branches that could fuel a larger fire.

Slash Piles

Slash is unusable material consisting of branches and tree tops. Slash results from tree removal and is often piled and burned or can be used for power and heating, creating value from this waste product.